Arapito is a town in the Karamea area of New Zealand. Arapito is a farming community on the south side of the Karamea River, and upriver from the main Karamea township.
Karamea is a town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the northernmost settlement of any real size on the West Coast, and is located 96 kilometres (60 mi) north-east by road from Westport. There is no other connecting road to the town - the road north ends at the Kohaihai River some 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Karamea, at the south western end of the Heaphy Track.
New Zealand is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, and the South Island —and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.
The Karamea River is a river of New Zealand. It is located in the Tasman and West Coast Regions of the South Island. The river rises within Kahurangi National Park in the Matiri Range of the Southern Alps. The river rises to the east of Mount Allen, meandering west briefly before turning north. After some 25 kilometres it again turns west, to enter a series of small lakes where its waters are joined by those of the Roaring Lion River.
The settlement was originally named Promised Land; it was changed to Arapito (Māori: 'End of the path') in 1908 when a post office was established in the town. The area was originally a Māori hunting trail, hence the name.
Māori, also known as te reo, is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian, it gained recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages in 1987. The number of speakers of the language has declined sharply since 1945, but a Māori language revitalisation effort slowed the decline, and the language has experienced a revival, particularly since about 2015.
